


Multiverse Theory

by Esherymack



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Drabbles, F/M, M/M, OOC, Short Stories, Work In Progress, all of these prompts came from somewhere on tumblr, i forget the places, it's been actual years since i've written anything please forgive, out-of-character, see beginning of each chapter for any specific warnings k thnx
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-10
Updated: 2018-03-23
Packaged: 2019-02-12 20:52:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 9,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12968184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Esherymack/pseuds/Esherymack
Summary: The life and times of everyone in dozens of conceivable circumstances. OOC at best, obviously.





	1. Lefties

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In this AU Aki and Jack are left handed *shrug*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AU: College.  
> No warnings.

It only makes sense that Aki’s last class of the day is on the fourth floor of the only building on campus without more than one left handed desk per room.

She really does need to start going to the gym, she thinks, stopping to catch her breath somewhere between the second and third floors. She flicks her watch to check the time, and is at least delighted to note that she is early. Earlier than normal.

That means that she can potentially get the only left handed desk in the room, and not have to glare at _him_ from across the room the whole lecture.

Hiking her backpack higher onto her shoulders, she jog s up the remaining steps and stop s again, sucking in a breath, and when she look s up the doorway was still empty. She only hear s distant footsteps. She  i s ten minutes early. There  i s no  _way_ she d oesn ’t have it this time.

She waits another minute (hoping that she doesn’t look too out-of-breath to whoever might be in the room) before she moves to enter the room. As she enters an all-too-familiar figure clad in a white hoodie rounds the corner and tries to enter at the same time.

As the doorway is at least a hundred years old, and designed for only one person to go through at a time, with limited wiggle room, she and her adversary end up wedged against one another. She pushes her way past him and into the room, stopping to look back at him.

His amethyst eyes me e t her hazel. She stare s back. Then, a simultaneous decision  i s made, and both  bolt for the desk.

She reaches it first, despite his longer stride, and flings her backpack off of one shoulder so she can neatly slide into the desk. She overcalculates and bangs her ribs on the edge, and winces properly, but she meets his gaze once again and smirks.

He growls. “Really, Izayoi?”

“Really, Atlas. I deserve to have a turn writing comfortably for once.”

He looks like he wants to protest, but can’t think of an argument against her. He settles for baring his teeth and growling.

“Aww,” she croons, maintaining her smirk. “Little Jackie-boy didn’t get his desk,” she continues, and he gives up and stomps off.

The next day, Aki arrive s at the same time, and walk s into the room to find Jack sitting primly at the desk. He ha s his arms crossed, a smirk firmly in place, and Aki roll s  her eyes.  _Of course he would be petty enough to arrive even earlier to get the desk_ .


	2. Taps

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *shrug*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AU: College  
> No warnings

Yusei stares at his alarm clock, certain he’s hearing things.

_1:04._

Silence.

_1:05._

There.  _Tap, tap, tap_ .

Someone is at his door, and he is none too happy about it. He slides out of bed, nearly tripping and smacking his forehead on his dresser in the darkness. He mentally notes Jack’s absence. Maybe it’s Jack, and he’s forgotten his keys.

Then again, if it were Jack, the taller man would be pounding on the door, not timidly tapping.

Reaching behind him, Yusei drags the navy comforter off of the bed to ward off the incessant chill leaking under the door and then pads across the lino to the door. As he reaches it, he hears a tired sigh from the other side and figures he might as well pick up the pace. He throws the lock aside and cracks the door, eyes squinting in the bright hall lights.

To his utmost shock, Aki stands there, a pillow stuffed under one arm, looking dejected and sleepy.

“Uh… hi,” he begins. She blinks at him, clears her throat, and greets him softly. “Can I help you?”

He doesn’t mean to be rude, really. It’s just that it’s 1 in the morning. And Aki is at his door instead of in her room on the other side of the building. And Yusei is confused.

“My roommate’s boyfriend is over and I think he’s staying for the night and I know Jack’s not here ‘cuz my roommate’s boyfriend  _is_ Jack, so… could I just please sleep on your floor so I’m not out in the hallway all night?”

Now it is Yusei’s turn to blink. “Uh… yeah, you can. But you could also, I don’t know, steal Jack’s bed. Since he’s not here and all.” He gives her the best grin he can muster when he knows he has to be up at six in the morning. She blinks at him again and smiles slowly.

“Thanks,” she replies, and he steps aside so she can enter.

 


	3. Dreadful Weather

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So I supposed I should say most of these prompts are from Tumblr, and I forget where exactly, but this one is “It’s raining and we’re stuck under this overhang, think we could get a pizza delivered?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AU: College  
> No warnings

It is positively dreadful weather. 

Aki is huddled under a shallow overhang, staring at the heavy drops of water plopping onto her shoes. Her final paper for anatomy and physiology is tucked into her (very not-waterproof) bag, which she has positioned as close to the stone as possible.

Curse her need to travel light, she thinks, and she remembers precisely where her umbrella is in her dorm: hanging on the plastic hook on the side of her dresser.

She is considering making a run for it when, in the distance, she hears cursing and the wet  _ slap-slap-slap _ of someone’s soaked shoes on the cobbles. She peers into the dim to see someone absolutely  _ bolting  _ for the same shelter she’s presently under.

The person all but runs into the wall as he squeezes in next to her, and she has to stifle a giggle.

Yusei Fudo looks positively  _ furious _ , very much like a cat that was forced into a bath against its will. His usually spiky, messy hair h angs around his face and drip s  water down his back and neck. 

He pants for a moment, then swipes a hand through his drenched locks, and gasps out a “hi, Aki” to her. She murmurs a greeting in reply, and then louder, asks him  _ what _ he is doing.

“I had to get to the computer lab to print some of my code… you know I’ve complained that Dr. Patil requires us to print it… and it’s for the final and I was walking back to my dorm and… this.”

“You didn’t think to bring an umbrella?” she asks.  He gives her a sideways stare, then remarks that he too was trying to travel light, and therefore left it behind. 

“And where’s your paper?” she asks. He unzips his coat to reveal a slightly damp packet of papers. She snags it out of his hands, ignoring his protests, and slides it into her backpack with her paper.

“What was that for?” he grumbles, obviously annoyed by this development. She grabs his reaching hand and squeezes his fingers. They’re icy cold from the rain, and so she brings her other hand with it and rubs his knuckles with her thumbs. He does not resist.

“Your paper was just going to get more soaked the more it sat in your coat. You’re absolutely drenched, Yusei.”

“ Yeah, well… what can I do? It’s just pouring!”

She smiles again. “You can stand here with me under this overhang, we can try and convince Crow to get some pizza delivered?”

He stares at her. “You’re joking, right? He’s not gonna deliver pizza to ‘a small overhang on the side of the main campus building,’ Aki.”

She stares back. “You wanna bet? I  _ live _ with him. He’ll do it.” She pulls out her phone and quickly navigates to Crow’s number. She knows full well that Yusei can hear how annoyed the other man is, but she also convinces him to get a pizza out to them, and so she sends her companion a smirk.

“It’ll be here in 20, he said,” and she slides down the wall. Yusei has no choice but to follow her, as she still clutches his hand.

He makes no efforts to extract his hand from hers, and he sidles closer to her until their legs are pressed up against each other. Crow finds them sitting like that, watching the clouds ro il by.


	4. Photography Project Procrastination

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bearing in mind I’ve never written any homosexual relationships before ever, I think this is going pretty well? I’d like some advice. I’m not homosexual, and I rarely read fanfiction with it as a focus, but I ship these two so hard and so this is happening.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AU: College  
> Warnings: None

Crow wakes up from the most wonderful nap of his college career to heavy pounding on the door. He knows _exactly_ who it is – his noisy boyfriend, Jack Atlas. No one else knocks like that. Not even the RA when she’s out to get Aki for something-or-other.

He slides out of his bed and stomps over to the door, fully expecting to give Jack a solid lecture on texting him first. It does occur to him that this might be an emergency, but he would very much rather not think of that.

He opens the door and gives the taller man a solid glare. “What do you want, Jack?”

The blond man feigns hurt. “You wound me, Crow. Look, I have to photograph someone for my photography class, and Yusei is out somewhere and he doesn’t like when I take pictures of him anyways and I know you’re always here when you’re not at class and -”

Crow blinks. Jack sounds like he is panicking based on the pitch of his voice and the nonstop babbling, despite his deep-rooted melodrama. “Uh… when’s it due?”

“In an hour,” Jack snaps. Crow sighs.

“You know I don’t like being photographed either, right?”

Jack, who has pushed past him and dumped his camera on his bed, stops, turns with his hands on his hips, and gives him a hard stare.

“There’s nothing to be nervous about. You’re certainly prettier than Yusei, and you’re  more likely to a ctually  _let_ me take pictures of you.”

“Did you just call Yusei _pretty_?”

Jack returns to setting up his camera and offhandedly remarks that yes, his roommate is a ‘pretty boy.’ Crow stifles a laugh.

“And you also called  _me_ a pretty boy.”

“Your hair is the most fantastic shade of red I have ever seen. It’s copper in the sunlight.”

“You flatter me,” Crow replies in his best Jack-accent, and he scoots over and gives Jack a quick side hug before he asks where Jack wants him.


	5. I really have to stop trying to make titles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aki’s in pre-med. Yusei doesn’t like doctors. I guess. :D

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AU: College  
> No warnings  
> Short one

Aki drags Yusei along by his arm. The man drags his feet, and Aki stops and whirls on him.

“You did agree to this, you know.”

He sighs. “Yes, I know, but does it have to be  _ today _ ? I have to run to class right after this.”

She eyes him. “I told you, it’s only going to take like five minutes. I have to put a cuff on you, take your blood pressure, and then you’re free to go. It won’t hurt a bit.”

“It’s not pain I’m worried about. Or anything. I’m not worried about anything,” he grumbles, and she chuckles. He is very obviously lying to her. Sh e picks up both of his hands. 

“Yusei. You’ll be fine. It’s not like we’re sticking you with IVs or needles. It’s… just… air.”

He stares at her long and hard. “I’m not afraid.”

She smiles softly, leans up on her toes and kisses his cheek, right under his scar. “You’re not scared. I know.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I got this idea in my head, and now this is happening, so.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AU: College  
> Warnings: Drunkness  
> Song: Hooked on a Feeling by Blue Swede, a great song for drunk-singing.

It is midnight, and all of Yusei’s friends are drunk.

Yusei is drunk too. They are all very drunk. So, so drunk.

He watches the light play off of the silver of his watch band. He remarks how pretty it is to Aki. Pretty, pretty Aki. She giggles and picks up the bottle of Bacardi on the  side table, and takes a long, long drink. He takes it from her, takes another drink for himself, and places it on the floor. The floor seems very far away. The bottle tips over, and he doesn’t feel like retrieving it. 

Aki complains softly. He kisses her. She tastes like sweet rum. She threads her fingers through his hair, and then an annoyed voice slurs out, “Get a room, you two.”

Yusei pulls back and shoots his roommate a glare. “We’re in a room,” he says to Jack.

“Your  _ own _ .”

“This is my room. My half. You live over there. And can make out with Crow all you want. Over there.”

Aki interrupts his babbling  with another ki s s,  traveling from his lips, down his jaw, onto his neck. Yusei hears Jack grumble, but he stops complaining, and that’s good enough for him. Good enough.

There is a crash and a yell from the other side of the room, and Yusei finally sits up fully, glaring at the other two. Crow is on the floor, and Jack is leaning over the edge of his bed, looking at him  through wide amethyst eyes .

“S’he okay?”

Crow groans, but admits that yes, he is okay.  Yusei pretends it didn’t happen, then, and adjusts Aki’s position, so she’s sitting directly in his lap. He plays with her hair.  _ Pretty, pretty Aki _ . 

He tells her that she’s very pretty. She blushes, high in her pretty cheekbones and delightedly informs him that he is also very pretty.  She then tells him that his blush is very pretty, too.  She tugs at his soft brown cardigan. She wants to keep it for the night, because she’s cold. He relents and shrugs it off. 

Later, when they’re all in the middle of the room belting out _Hooked on A Feeling_ is when their RA, Carly, decides to finally fetch the master key and tell them all to kindly _shut up_ , because it’s only Thursday, and alcohol is illegal in the dorms, and they’re being _loud_. Yusei grabs her,  pushes her into Jack and Crow, and keeps on going. 

“ _ I’m hooked on a feeling, high on believing! That you’re in looove with meeee... _ _ ”  _

She yells at him. “You’re not even  _ good at singing, _ Fudo! And it’s  _ Thursday! _ ”

He giggles, actually  _ giggles _ at her and takes her swirly glasses from her.  _ “ _ Your eyes are prettier without these on, Nagisa,” and then he tells her to loosen up. Because it’s Thursday. And they’re drunk.  And he can’t see through those swirly glasses .  Aki tells him that Carly is wrong, and that he is  _ very  _ good at singing, and so he doesn’t stop.

She rolls her eyes, takes her glasses back, snatches up the (empty) bottles, and leaves them to their devices. The next day is  _ horrible _ , and she certainly does not pity them with early wake-up calls.

 


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *shrug*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AU: College  
> Warnings: Bruno is dead for some reason now  
> I'm not a fan of this one. Should delete it.

It is 3 AM, and Yusei swears he is losing his mind.

For, you see, he is starting to see his old friend Bruno watching him through the window.

The thing is, Bruno died four years ago, and seeing him standing there makes Yusei’s heart ache something awful. He keeps adjusting his chair, turning further away from the window, but he can’t seem to avoid it.

His phone vibrates. He half expects to see Bruno’s number popping up on the screen. It doesn’t.

It’s Aki.

“Yeah?” he says in greeting.

“Yusei, it’s 3 AM. Are you still in the library?”

He’s quiet for a moment. “Yeah. I have to study here. I’m not allowed to check out this book.”

Aki makes a plaintive noise. “Yusei, you know that binge studying isn’t healthy.”

“Yeah, I know, I just...”

Before he can finish, she firmly says “Yusei.”

He looks at his pen resting in the fold of his book.

“You need to get home and get some rest,” she began, and Yusei flicks the book shut.

“I keep seeing Bruno,” he says softly, and she replies with a soft chuckle.

“Not that it’s funny, but you’re so tired you’re seeing things,” she murmurs. “Come home, I’ll convince Jack to go see Crow tonight.”

He hums contemplatively. “If I’m coming home, I’m going to be sleeping, I still have that final tomorrow.”

“Doesn’t mean I can’t cuddle,” Aki quips. He relents, shoves the textbook back on the shelf, and flees the library.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is based on actual experience in my mandatory Ethics lecture in college. Oh dear god. Quote is taken directly from Metaphysics for the Grounding of Morals by Immanuel Kant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AU: College  
> Warnings: Immanuel Kant, palpable awkwardness

“ So, you all read the chapter, yes?”

There is an incredible silence. Someone in the back of the room clears their throat. The awkwardness is  _ palpable _ .

Crow immediately feels bad. The professor seems like a genuinely nice guy. He just has no idea how to convince the other fifty people around him to actually participate.

He sticks his hand up in the air and elbows Jack at the same time. The blond straightens, tugging on the collar of his hoodie.

“I thought that the way Aristotle dictated the philosophy in  _ Nicomachian _ is really quite practical.”

The professor nods. “And why is that?”

Crow bites his tongue. A little too hard. “Uh. Well. You see, uh...” He flicks his gaze to the ceiling for a moment, trying desperately to remember anything that he’d skimmed from the chapter merely for the sake of keeping the attempted discussion rolling. “His discussion of virtue versus excess and deficiency was easy to understand?” he tried. Jack visibly scoffs and rolls his eyes.

“Right,” the professor drawls, clearly seeing their efforts, but knowing all too well they barely recalled the information. “Well, no one ever said that  Aristotle was an interesting  _ read _ . I suppose. We’ll just move on. I also asked you guys to read a chapter out of  _ Groundwork for the Metaphysics of Morals _ , but I know now that no one even got through the chapter from  _ Nicomachian Ethics _ , so we’ll just popcorn read it in class. Mr. Hogan, since you were so willing to put forth discussion last time, you may begin.”

Crow lets out an audible huff, flicking through his book for the chapter. He clears his throat. “Although I have derived our existing concept of duty from the ordinary – or commonsensical – use of our practical reason...”

Jack had to bite his pen to keep from laughing at Crow’s misfortune. 

“...doubtful whether it is done  _ from  _ duty and thus whether it has moral worth.  _ Jack _ ,” he recites, attempting to catch his breath after the paragraph-from-hell ends. 

“I uh… forgot my book,” Jack says.

“You may borrow from Mr. Hogan.”

“Fine. Give it here, Hogan,” he drawls, boredom lacing every word from his mouth.

“Kill me,” Crow mouths, seeing how long the chapter truly is.

Jack nods, and moves on to the next page of the book.

 


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So this takes place before any of the other drabbles. In the other ones, Aki knows that Jack and Crow are an item. In this one, she doesn’t even know that Crow is gay. She does know that he’s her roommate for some unexplained reason, though, which is a story for later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AU: College  
> No warnings

When Aki pulls back up to her assigned parking spot outside of the building she lived in, she was exasperated to find that once again, some stranger’s car was in said spot.

Growling, she parks across the street and digs through her backpack for her phone before stepping out.

Crow picks up almost immediately, and before he gets a “Yo” out to her, she’s raving.

“They did it  _ again _ . That absolute asshole. Whoever they are. They’re a student here-- they have the tags! But they apparently  _ don’t know about assigned parking,  _ and--”

“Woah, Aki, Aki,” Crow says, exasperated. She’s at the door and fumbling with her keycard. “What kind of car is it, anyways? You never told me.”

She tosses a look back over her shoulder towards the offending vehicle.

“ It’s white.”

She can practically hear the deadpan in his voice. “Go  _ look at it _ , you dummy,” he says, then laughs.

She stalks over to the car, looking for some sort of identifying feature. “It’s a Mustang...” As she walks around towards the passenger side, she spots familiarity. “GT 500.”

Crow actually swears and says something. “Come again?”

“Not  _ you _ . I uh… That’s my uh. You see.”

“What? Your  _ girlfriend _ ?” Aki snickers. “Tell her to move her car before I call public safety.”

“Well. Kinda. Uh. Don’t report Jack’s car. Please.”

“Jack?”

“He’s my boyfriend,” Crow says quickly, and Aki has to resist rolling her eyes.

“So tell him to move his car before I call public safety. Is that why they were okay tossing you in with me?”

“He’s on his way out right now. I uh… I guess?”

“Hm,” Aki hums, leaning against the car to wait to see this ‘Jack.’

Shortly, he arrives. She gives him a critical stare.

“Can I help you?” he snaps, and she notes the accent. Cockney.  A ll-white attire, blond hair, and  with his  peculiar violet eyes narrowed down at her , she gets the impression of someone who thinks he’s a  _ little too good _ . 

He’s also incredibly tall. She comes to stand next to him and has to look almost straight up to see his irritated stare.

“You keep parking in my space, you ass,” she growls.

“You’re Crow’s roommate?”

“Are you even going to acknowledge the problem here?”

“No. How the hell did Crow get put with someone like you? I mean, I thought the other side of the room looked a little girly, but I assumed...”

“You know what they say about assumptions,” she deadpanned before moving back towards her car. “Stop parking in my spot, I paid good money for it!” she calls back to him. He mutters something inaudible.

She doesn’t bother looking back.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I’ve decided that a flustered Yusei is an adorable Yusei.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AU: College  
> Warnings: Vague mention of nudity.

Yusei is staring out his window, procrastinating, when a light flickers on in a room across the courtyard. The only reason he bothers looking is because it’s the only change in a long while.

He almost regrets looking.  _ Almost _ . 

Of course, as soon as he sees the beautiful redhead yanking her shirt off over her head, he can’t bring himself to stop staring immediately. Her pale skin and  the curves that he can see are entrancing. 

The door starts to open behind him, and h e throws himself back to his desk, thoroughly flustered. Jack stares at him for a long moment, and asks after his general health.  He informs his roommate that he is in fact fine, and tries to focus on his computer science work. For the rest of the night though, his mind keeps going back to  _ her _ .

He’s never been this bothered by accidentally seeing a woman before.

The next day he is once again trying to focus on his work when Jack comes back. He has very carefully closed the blinds and tried to put her out of his mind.

W hen Jack loudly asks for his attention and he turns around, he nearly chokes. Jack is there in the doorway with Crow Hogan and  _ her  _ by his side. 

Jack once again asks after his health. He weakly says he’s fine, and that it’s only that his work is complicated, but he greets Crow and introduces himself to  _ her _ – her name is Aki – and then shoves his headset on and cranks the volume. 

The two are apparently there for a study session that lasts about two hours. As soon as they leave, Jack hits him on the arm – hard.

Yusei scowls and yanks his headset off. “What was that for?” he asks, turning the volume down so that his music doesn’t drown out his roommate.

“Why did you just spend 2 hours completely ignoring them? You’re still friends with Crow, right?”

He mumbles that his homework is complicated, and Jack scowls. “Bullshit. You’re practically a coding  _ god _ .  What’s the real reason?”

Blushing furiously, he grinds out the story of seeing Aki through the window. Jack looks ready to  _ explode  _ from laughing.

“I’m gonna tell her. She thinks you don’t like her.”

He panicked. “No. Jack, no, don’t you  _ dare _ -” 

Jack’s already tapping away on his phone. “She’s gonna track you down tomorrow, just so you know. She’s either going to murder you or laugh in your face.”

“Why did you do that,” Yusei asks weakly.

“Because you are hopeless, Yusei. You are hopeless and you saw Aki naked.”

Yusei puts his face in his hands. “Why did you have to tell her. I could have gotten over it.”

“Your reaction to this is  _ too good _ .”

“ _ Jack _ .”

There was a knock on the door. Yusei went pale. “I thought you said tomorrow.”

“You don’t know that’s -”

“Jack Atlas,  _ open this door _ .”

“...Her.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yusei is not tech support.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AU: College  
> No warnings  
> Short one

In retrospect, Crow perhaps should not have kicked the printer in rage. This conclusion is reached after it starts spitting ink at him. And the wall. And the floor. And the textbooks stacked on a nearby table. And on  said table.

He stands poised over the damnable machine in absolute shock. His heart speeds up. Sweat on his forehead mixes with the blue splattering his face.

Behind him, there is a horrible choking noise. He turns slowly.

Aki Izayoi is leaning on the wall, dying. Her face is red and her phone is on the floor, having been dropped in her hysteria.

“You…  _ holy shit _ ,” she gasps out, scarcely able to meet his gaze. He feels blood rush to his face. 

“I…” he stammers out, still trying to get a grasp on the situation.

Aki can’t look at him. A single glance sends her into another fit of giggles.

Fate is a cruel mistress. Yusei Fudo chooses this moment to enter the fray. He steps in. Takes a single look at Crow. He says “no.” He leaves.

 


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yusei has insomnia and is sweet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AU: College  
> No warnings

Yusei is no stranger to late nights.

Out of respect for his roommate, he tends to spend them in one of the computer labs on campus. The hum of machines around him and the faint smell of stale coffee keeps him going, or so he believes.

He swipes his ID on the south lab’s door and steps into the dark room. The lights flicker to life automatically.  The computers here take forever to boot. He drops his bag onto one chair and flops impatiently into a chair next to it.

His tired stare eventually registers the USB drive sticking out of the front of the computer. He grabs it and stares at it for a moment, and then shrugs and plugs it back in. The files load quickly and he skims through them for identifying features.

Most of them are pictures with multiple people in them. He finds a Word document in the mix, though, and opening it reveals a paper under the name of one Aki Izayoi. He smiles fondly.

He’s too busy thinking to notice that the door opens, and nearly falls out of the chair when someone taps him on the shoulder. He turns to look at the same Aki that owns the drive.

“Uh, hi,” he stammers. “I was trying to figure out whose drive that was,” he says with a wave to the screen.

“I’m sure,” Aki says, but he can hear the smile in her voice. “Snoop. What are you even doing here?”

“I have work to do. I can’t let it lay until tomorrow at this point.”

“A snoop  _ and  _ a procrastinator? You’ve really let yourself go, Yusei,” she murmurs. She squeezes his shoulder and takes her USB drive from the computer.  R ests it on the table.  S inks into the chair next to him.

“I’ll sit with you a while. I don’t feel like running all the way back right now.”

He mumbles in acknowledgement and stretches his wrists before he  dives into his work.

-

She falls asleep sometime around 1 AM. He tucks his jacket around her shoulders and fidgets with her hair for a moment until he’s satisfied she won’t be cold.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We all know Jack can be gruff, but he's also got a protective streak. He's friends with Aki at this point.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AU: College  
> Warnings: Mention of stalking, related problems because Aki didn’t want to go to the police about it, one use of a slur

Aki has been very carefully avoiding Roy for days now, but the man is nothing if not persistent. And creepy. He has been stalking her, this she knows. She doesn’t really feel like going to Public Safety about it. It’s embarrassing to admit to the  _ police _ that she can’t handle one bad date. 

So instead, she blabs about it to Jack while at one of their study sessions. He stares at her, impassive violet eyes studying her  actions . 

“He’s  _ stalking  _ you?” he finally asks, and she shrugs.

“I mean, I assume he is. I’ve blocked his number but I’ve seen him almost everywhere I go.”

“Izayoi… that’s not good.”

“I know, it’ll be fine though,” she insists, and his glare hardens before he shrugs and they return to studying.

-

The next day comes as a surprise when she walks into her first class to find Jack sitting in her seat.

“Jack… I’ve been sitting in this seat all semester, why are you in it today?”

He jerks his chin across the room. She feels very small when she spots Roy lounging in a seat where she is in his direct line of sight.

“He… is in this class?”

“I don’t know, but he’s been staring at you since you walked in.” At this, he grabs her wrist (eliciting a yowl of protest from the redhead) and puts her in the chair next to h im.

He doesn’t let go of her wrist for almost all of lecture.

-

An hour later, the professor releases them. Jack still has a firm grip on her, and Aki struggles to loosen his fingers a bit. “Jack,  _ Jack _ , please let go now,” she hisses, and his hand loosens (imperceptibly). He’s still all but dragging her now, though, and she pries at his hand again. “Jack!” she seethes, and he stops walking and drops her on a bench outside of the hall. 

“You’re really letting him do this?”

“He hasn’t actually done anything yet,” she defends, and Jack rolls his eyes.

“You know, if I weren’t gay, I might actually date you. You’re a beautiful woman. He’s a creep. You have to be  _ careful _ , Aki.” 

She blows hair out of her eyes and fiddles with her ring. “And what should I do about it? The police probably won’t do anything anyways. ‘Cause he hasn’t done anything.”

“Stalking is an offense,  and Ushio likes you ” Jack snaps back. She huffily agrees.

Roy slouches out of the lecture hall. Her gaze snaps to her shoes. And Jack steps in front of her, growling.

“You wanna back off?” he says with a jut of his chin towards the slight man.

“What’s it to you, fag? You cheating on your  _ boyfriend  _ with her?”

Jack seethes. It’s one thing to throw slurs at him. It’s another thing to suggest he would dare ruin what he has with Crow.

He’s got Roy’s shirt in one fist before he even really thinks about it, and Aki gasps his name. “Don’t start a fight.  _ Please _ , Jack, it’s not worth getting in trouble over.”

“ I really think it is, Izayoi.”

She grabs his arm and starts yanking him towards the doors. It doesn’t really work, as Jack is so much taller and stronger than she is.

“ _ Jack _ ,” she growls in her most dangerous voice, and he finally huffs and shoves Roy. 

“Stay the fuck away from her, and don’t you dare talk about Crow like that,” he spits before he lets Aki drag him away.

“ Jack...” Aki begins, and he snaps at her too.

“Can you stop saying my name, woman?”

“ Jack,” she says again, merely to annoy him. “I… thank you,” she finally consents. He blinks down at her for a minute. “You’re an ass sometimes, but at least you’re on my side,” she mutters.

He actually smirks at her.  _ Smirks _ . “I uh… you’re my friend, Izayoi,” he says, and she takes that as ‘you’re welcome’ and leaves it at that.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aki and Divine had issues, but Yusei is good at repairing things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AU: College  
> Warnings: Mention of abuse

Aki wilts onto the nearest barstool she can find. She never should have allowed Misty to drag her to this party, but  the other woman had used the ‘we haven’t gone out together in  _ forever _ ’ excuse and Aki felt too guilty to decline after that.

As the evening wears on, though, and the more her feet ache in her stiletto heels, the more she wishes she’d found some excuse to avoid the party as a whole. 

Misty ditched her an hour ago.

She knows next-to-no-one here. 

The booze is  simultaneously cheap and overpriced.

Her feet hurt.

And she swears she saw Divine lounging  on a wall by the entryway. 

Her mind lingers on that for a bit.

Divine.

She’d been fresh out of high school, kicked out by her parents, struggling to make ends meet  between clean clothes, food, and cigarettes she’s long since quit . She’d gotten a scholarship for this particular university and entered knowing nothing and no one.

Divine saved her, in a way. But she knows now that his way was not a Good Way. His way involved treating her nice so long as she behaved. As long as she was blind, hurt, and malleable in his hands. It had slowly dawned on her that she no longer had to deal with her parents breathing down her neck, questioning her every choice, invading her privacy. But when she wanted to step out, to try something new, meet new people…

Divine didn’t take kindly to change.

She’s only told Yusei that she flinches from raised hands and clenched fists because of that period of her life. That she has panic attacks when people yell at her. 

He’s remarkably understanding. She changes her dismal thoughts to this instead. 

Thoughts of Yusei fill her with a warmth like sunshine in spring and warm mugs of tea in fall. He matches her with his quiet intelligence and quick wit. He comforts her with his gentle voice and motivates her with his strength. 

Yusei.

She smiles and sips at her cheap-overpriced beer. She doesn’t even notice the taste now.  She plucks her phone from her clutch and sends a quick text.

_ Whatcha up to? _

She then lets the screen dim as she contemplates sending a picture. From where she’s seated, she can see Divine, not paying attention to her, but making her feel oppressed and tired and  _ bleh _ .

Her phone buzzes in her loose hand.  _ Nothing much. What’s up? _

She takes the picture and sends it and slides off the stool. Appends a “ _ I’ll be there in ten minutes? _ ” and focuses on not rolling her ankle in her shoes. As she rifles through hangers for her jacket her phone lights up again.

_ What? _

_ Really now. _

_ No, stay there, I’ll pick you up. _

She finds her coat and slips it on and stands by the door, tapping her phone with her freshly painted nails –  _ tip tip tip tip – _ as she waits anxiously for him to arrive. She’s certain he’ll be punctual – he always is, particularly where she’s concerned. She worries a ragged thread on her jacket cuff. Knocks it off. Resumes and manages to pull it out.

_ I’m out front _ , from her phone. She practically throws the door open and very nearly runs him over. He chuckles at her anxiety and steadies her  and takes her elbow in a soft-calloused hand and helps her down the steps. He presses a soft kiss to her cheek with understandably chapped lips and he walks her home with an accompaniment of anecdotes and listening and understanding why she’s freaked. 

She decides that she’s not perfect, and he’s not perfect, but that two halves make a whole and that while not altogether ideal, this moment was the most perfect moment she could imagine. 


	15. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "When she accepted the Craigslist ad, she hadn't been expecting to be living with not one,but three hot guys..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AU: Normal People  
> No warnings, really

Aki sighs and throws her comforter off of herself. Her sleep-heavy eyes settle on the glowing red numbers of her alarm clock.  _ 6 AM _ .

She hits the off button and slides out of bed. 

She looks down at herself and shrugs. Yusei, Jack, and Crow shouldn’t be awake right now, anyways. 

She slips into the kitchen and tries to go about making coffee as quietly as possible. She is still new here, and doesn’t particularly want any of the guys seeing her in her oversized, zebra-printed pajama pants.

Sighing contentedly into her mug, she takes a long gulp (burning her tongue in the process, but 8 AM classes leave very little room for argument on caffeine consumption), sets it back on the counter, and turns around only to see all three of them sitting at the table, staring at her in a silent kind of judgment. She blushes to the tips of her ears, bids them good-morning, and bolts back to her room to change.

When Aki steps back into the apartment that afternoon, Yusei is sitting at the table (still? Or again?), flicking through something on his phone. His eyes are soft when he looks up at her, and he gives her a smile that makes her dizzy. “Hi,” he says, and she mumbles a greeting before she turns down the hallway to her bedroom once again. Her heart hammers wildly against her ribs.

When she accepted the Craigslist ad, she certainly hadn’t been counting on living with not one, but  _ three  _ hot guys. Thus far, Yusei has been the only one of them to show any sort of real interest in her, though. Jack and Crow, while polite, seemed to spend as much time away from the apartment as possible. When she questions Yusei about it, he shrugs and says it’s not any of his business what his roommates do. 

* * *

Months roll past slowly. Aki pays her rent, keeps out of the way of the others, and goes to class, and everything seems to slow to a blur. The only constant in her life is Yusei, always sitting at the table when she walks back into what she now considers her home too. He always greets her with the same soft eyes and same smile, and she started returning the gesture after a week. She started joining him after two. Her growing fondness of him is hard to ignore.

* * *

There comes a point in time where she realizes she doesn’t even question her life here now. When she first moved in, she would softly mumble about letting the guys use the bathroom first (despite the fact that Jack took far too long to be healthy). Now she slips into the room to brush her teeth in the morning and is far too used to hearing Jack singing in the shower, or shoving Yusei aside to share the mirror. 

After she started cooking for all of them on Wednesdays, when she actually has time, the guys seem to make a point to always show up. They don’t say it, but she knows they appreciate it. In return, she’ll come back on her late days (every other day, really) to find a treat on her desk (when did she start leaving her door unlocked? It doesn’t bother her, really) or a covered bowl of food on her shelf in the fridge that definitely had not been there that morning. 

* * *

When Jack and Crow announce their intent to move out, she feels almost heartbroken. She has lived here for two years, with all three of them, and the two quiet men feel almost like brothers. They’re hesitant to explain why, exactly, they’re leaving, but after they walk out the door for whatever it is they go to do, Yusei knowingly says, “I knew they’d get together at some point.” She gawks at him and admits she was clueless.

“They keep it a secret. They don’t actually know that I am fully aware.”

“Why?”

Yusei shrugs and says it’s not any of his business. 

* * *

The apartment feels empty without Jack and Crow. Despite this gap in her life, she doesn’t notice any change in Yusei’s schedule. She wakes up in the morning, shoves him aside in the bathroom (really, he moves over for her now), shares her coffee with him, goes to class. She knows now that Yusei leaves for work about ten minutes after she leaves, but he gets back at three PM every day. She returns, variably, between four and six PM, and either cooks dinner or eats whatever Yusei’s got for her. He sits at the table with her, and they talk while she does her homework and eventually she bids him goodnight and pads down the hall to her room.

Rinse, and repeat.

* * *

It occurs to her that she will not always be fine living here. She loves the peace of her home, but she is rapidly coming up on graduation, and she does not want to approach the subject with Yusei. She doesn't know if she is integral to his life, but for three years now, he has  _ been there _ . He’s cooked food for her, brought her tissues and cough medicine for her colds, tucked her into bed when she’s passed out at the table; he was there when she broke up with Divine, and he stood guard when she told him why. She feels attached to him on some deep level that she cannot explain, no matter how hard she tries. 

When she sits down at the table with her food, she picks at it until Yusei gives in and asks her what she’s got on her mind. She reiterates everything to him between bites of food, and he sits quietly, picking at his thumb.

“You don’t have to, you know.”

“Don’t have to what?”

“Leave. There’s no rule saying that this place is only for Aki while she’s in college.”

“But-”

“It’s your home, too. You’ve been here for years, Aki.”

He reaches out and takes her hand, and despite the callouses, they are warm and she feels a rush of something when his fingers come to rest on her wrist. 

She is quiet for a minute, staring at his hand, before she puts her fork down in her bowl and puts her free hand on top of his. “I don’t want to leave,” she says softly. “But you might not want me to when I say why.”

“Why would I ever?”

“I think I love you,” she mumbles, and Yusei does not immediately respond verbally, but his hand tightens on hers. 

“Then don’t leave,” he says firmly, and she figures this is as close to an “I think I love you, too,” she’s gonna get right now. 


	16. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mythical AU  
> A bit of a longer one  
> Rated T for injury stuff

Aki is four and sitting in her father’s lap when her knees start bleeding and her arm starts aching horrifically. 

Panicked by the sudden pain and blood, she begins to sob openly, and her parents sit in stunned silence for nearly a minute before her father sweeps her up and they both rush her to the hospital.

“It happened suddenly, with no warning?” her pediatrician asks, and of course there was concern and child services are called and there is a huge investigation that is not kept as quiet as Senator Izayoi likes, but it becomes clear that her parents had not touched her, and then he curses when he lines up the signs.

“It’s a soul bond. It has to be. There’s no way her arm would just break like this without warning.” 

It happens more and more. Tiny cuts and scrapes appearing on their child’s arms and legs, and once right across her forehead. Bruises blossom over her hands and shins. Once, in school, while she is writing, her finger suddenly breaks and never quite heals straight. Aki grows used to it.

No one ever tells her the true cause. A soul bond such as this is rare. Exceedingly so. But they have yet to find a girl or boy who comes to the hospital with the same broken arm, or who runs around with the same cuts and bruises and lumps. So they ease the hurts and tell her she is sick, and clumsy, and that is the way things have to be.

* * *

Yusei is nine when it happens.

He is sitting at the scuffed table, shoulder-to-shoulder with Jack and Crow, waiting on Martha to serve up dinner, when pain blossoms through his side. Growling, he elbows Jack back, and the boy scowls and elbows him  _ again _ .

But this is not the same pain, and the burn hurts more than before. He stumbles out of his chair and away from Jack and feels his shirt sticking to his ribs, and Jack is staring at him in some combination of anger and horror. 

Martha comes in right then, and throws the bowl in her hands onto the table and gasps out “ _ What is happening here?! _ ” as she grabs Yusei and yanks his shirt up to reveal the gash there. Jack holds up his hands.

“I didn’t do anything, I swear, Martha!”

Martha snatches up a napkin and dabs at the blood. “Yusei, did he do this?”

Yusei shakes his head. He knows Jack. The older boy may be gruff, but Yusei’s shirt isn’t ripped, and he wouldn’t pull a knife on Yusei. Ever. 

Yusei doesn’t even think Jack  _ owns _ a knife.

Despite the blood oozing down his side, the wound is shallow, and the hurt passes with little but a wide scar, but the more time wears on the more he notices. He’ll find a bruise on his side, or a new scrape or cut on his leg or arm. One time, during the summer, he tugs his shirt off doing yard work and is stopped by Crow, who demands to know what in the name of God he’s done to his back. Further examination reveals honest-to-God  _ burns  _ that he had chalked up to sunburn.

As Martha soothes salve and ice over the injuries, he asks her what is wrong with him. An aged hand taps his scar from five years ago, and she tells him tales she’s heard of soul bonds, and that some boy or girl out in the world is intertwined with his fate so deeply that every hurt they suffer comes to him, too.

Yusei comes to hold every injury reverently in his mind. He is eighteen and living in a subway tunnel, and Rally skips over to him and asks what’s wrong with his arm. He peels off his glove (sticky with blood) and traces gently over the slice in his forearm with barely a wince. He tells Rally the same tale Martha told him, and the boy curiously jabs a poke at it, earning a hiss of pain from Yusei. 

Yusei tenderly wraps it in a bandage and tries to think of this person who just gashed their arm like his, and wonders if they have bandages to soothe their hurts as well.

* * *

It is during his first duel with Aki Izayoi during the Fortune Cup that he  _ realizes _ . Her fury, and her dragon, are causing cuts to appear on his face and neck, and she stops it all, suddenly.

The crowd is dead silent, most of them having fled at her display of rage and power. Yusei doesn’t quite drop his guard, and Stardust doesn’t disappear from behind him quite yet.

But then, Izayoi reaches to her face with shaking fingers and lifts her mask off and throws it to the floor of the stadium, and she has fear and anger and  _ confusion  _ and  _ hurt  _ in her gaze, and she blinks as blood dribbles from a cut through her brow towards her right eye. 

And Yusei is trying to work out how exactly that happened when warm, red blood runs into his own.

“You,” she sputters, disbelief lacing her words. “It was  _ you _ ?”

Yusei’s free hand touches his side, where an old scar lies under his shirt. “It was you?” he asks, more of a question than an accusation.

Izayoi turns her head towards Black Rose Dragon, and sinks to her knees. Tears threaten her eyes, but she holds strong.

“Finish this, Fudo. We need to talk.”

* * *

Divine doesn’t want to let him see her. He shoves the man up against the wall with one fist, and jabs a finger towards the clotting cut on his forehead. “You’re not standing in between us right now.”

“Why should I let you talk to her? You’ve only ever caused her pain,  _ boy _ ,” Divine spits, and Yusei shoves him into the wall again.

“You are  _ not.  _ Going to stand between us right now. Get lost.”

Divine backs down for now, his gaze lowering. Yusei glares him down until he disappears at the end of the hallway. Then, the door slides open and Izayoi is standing there, a damp rag held to her cheek. She stares at him as she backs away so he can enter, and his sapphires do not leave her ambers. 

The door closes with a soft  _ shush _ . The silence is palpable. Yusei’s cuts sting, his dragon mark burns, and his heartbeat feels louder and louder in his own ears.

She breaks, finally. “You… I… we,” she tries three times, before she chokes, and her walls shatter and a broken sob rips from her throat. He catches her as she sinks to the floor again. She chokes out her story to him in the dimness of the room. And Yusei holds her tighter, feeling for the first time in his life the belonging that he desired. He feels  _ whole _ .

* * *

His first duel with Kiryu does not end well, and it leaves Aki curled into an agonized ball against Crow. Martha had attended her briefly, quickly stitching the wound and winding bandages around her torso before she’d hurried back into the room where Yusei lay.

A pale hand pokes her face, and she flicks her glare to Jack Atlas. The man is holding out his hand, and she stares at it in confusion.

“There’s no point in you staying down here all night,” he says by way of explanation. “You’re hurt too. You should get some sleep.”

When she doesn’t move, he rolls his eyes and steps closer. “Izayoi,” he begins.

“Jack, I’m not- I can’t. I don’t want to leave him.”

Jack doesn’t back down, but something softens in his amethyst eyes. “You’re not leaving him, idiot. You’ll just be upstairs. Getting some sleep. Because you almost bled to death on Crow and I.”

He’s not wrong. His words remind her how tired and sore she is. She reaches out to take his hand and almost chokes upon seeing the mottled bruises spanning her right arm. She has no doubts the rest of her right side looks the same.

She sways when she stands and Jack grumbles something about uselessness as he picks her up, completely ignoring her protests. Halfway up the steps she stops resisting and gives in to sleep.

* * *

Waking up in a strange bed, with a scratchy-but-warm blanket tucked in around her, Aki immediately forgets her current state and sits up far too quickly. Her side tweaks in pain, but it is not nearly as bad as the night before. She looks around the clean room. 

It’s relatively bare, except for the chair next to her bed, upon which her clean clothes are folded. Someone must have washed them to rid them of the blood that had soaked into them.

She looks down at herself and takes note of the absurd size of everything on her - oversized black shirt, oversized flannel pants, oversized hoodie jacket. 

The smell of something delicious wafts into the room and she looks up to see Martha leaning in the open door. “About time you were up,” she says, not unkindly. “Everyone’s been worried about you.”

She limps down the stairs, holding the older woman’s arm in a death grip. “Is Yusei okay?” she asks softly, and Martha smiles but doesn’t answer. She gets her answer instead by seeing him tiredly slouched over a bowl of oatmeal. He still looks pale, but he’s  _ alive  _ and that’s all that’s important right now. 

* * *

Her heart has stopped. Aki is certain of it.

Mikage is over her, worry creasing her brow, panicking when she realizes that Aki  _ isn’t breathing _ , that she  _ can’t _ . She knows it in her still heart that something terrible has happened.

She doesn’t quite acknowledge that Mikage has started CPR, or that time passes. She jolts back to life suddenly, gasping for air, her chest sore (in fact, she’s pretty certain Mikage has cracked a rib or three trying to get her to breathe again). The blue haired woman has tears in her eyes and she’s so confused and worried because Aki just  _ died in front of her  _ for no reason.

She  _ died _ .

That means Yusei  _ died _ .

Panic floods Aki and she forces it down, trying desperately to put her mask on. It doesn’t work, and she finds herself sobbing in fear and anger.

“He  _ died _ ,” she says, and it doesn’t alleviate any of Mikage’s confusion. “Our soul bond. Whatever happens to him, happens to me.”

Mikage’s mouth forms an “oh,” and she stares at the horizon in worry. 

“We have to carry on,” Aki forces herself to say. “If I’m alive now, then he’s fine. Ushio probably helped him. I have to get to Misty.”

* * *

The aftermath of the New Signer War is every bit as exhilarating and painful as Aki imagines. Hurts must be treated, rest must be taken, and Aki desperately wants to talk to Yusei about what happened - because they’d died. She’s sitting in a chair across from him in Poppo Time and fiddling with her deck while they make small talk and then she breaks in with the question at the same moment he says her name.

They both pause, and then Yusei continues. “I owe you an explanation,” he says, and she sits and listens as he talks about his vision, as he tells her he’s sorry three times for dying, that he won’t do it again.

She can’t help but giggle at that. This man before her cares so deeply that he promises to never die again?

She’s half tempted to say she’ll take him up on that one.


	17. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not really an AU, just futurey.

“Ah, you’re awake. I’m glad to see that.”

Yusei let his head loll to the left. He was laying in a dim room, this he could see. And there was an annoying beeping somewhere on the right.  _ Alarm clock _ , he decided. He flung an arm towards it to turn it off and was annoyed to find empty space. He must be too far away.

He went to sit up, but a firm hand pushed him down again. “Don’t be so hasty,” he was scolded, and he huffed. He eyed the woman next to him. 

“Hi Aki,” he said, and she gave him a gentle smile.

“Hi, Yusei. I need you to follow my finger, okay?”

He let his eyes follow her waving hand. “This is a fun game,” he said suddenly. Aki huffed in amusement as she turned away to write something down.

“Why… why’re you up and dressed already?” Yusei asked, and she looked at him, confused. 

“What do you mean?”

“I mean the alarm clock is still going off. You should maybe turn that off.”

Her brow crinkled. He laughed and reached out to poke her forehead. “You’re cute when you’re confused.”

She gawked at him, before she gently grasped his wrist and put it back down. “Do you know where you are?” she asked, weirdly serious. He snorted.

“Yeah. I’m in bed.”

“Are we in the garage?”

“The garage doesn’t have a bed.”

“If these circumstances were any different, I’d say you were being obtuse on purpose. What building are we in, Yusei?”

“Poppo Time?” he tried. She shook her head. “Tops?” he tried. She smiled a little, then resumed her professional countenance. 

“Yusei, we’re in the hospital. You’re in the post-surgical care unit.”

“Ohhhh,” he said slowly. “So that’s not an alarm clock?”

“No, that is your heart rate monitor.”

“Why’m I here again?”

“You were in an accident during a duel.”

“And you’re not my girlfriend?”

“No, Yusei.”

He frowned. That didn’t sound right. “You mean to say we’ve been friends this long and I forgot to ask you out?”

Aki smiled at him. “That’s not quite right either.”

He looked adorably delighted at this news. “So I did ask you out?”

She nodded slowly. Hopefully he’d reach the next conclusion. “But if you’re not my girlfriend, then you must have said no?”

Nevermind.

“Yusei, I did not say no.”

“But you’re not my girlfriend.”

“Not necessarily, no.”

“I wish you were my girlfriend. Do you want to be?”

Aki gave up. The haze of painkillers must have been far too much right now. She leaned down and gave her husband a kiss on the cheek and said, “Sure, Yusei. I will be your girlfriend.”

He gave her another adorably delighted smile. “Good,” he said. “You’re the best girlfriend.”

“Oh, I know,” she simpered, leaving to find her next patient. “I’ll be back later, dear.”


End file.
